Dur?n?s fate could steer district?s benefactors

Four months ago, two powerful businessmen and a Frost family scion quietly lobbied trustees of San Antonio Independent School District to extend Superintendent Robert Durón's contract. Their pull is such that they got Mayor Julián Castro to pitch in with a few phone calls.

The trio sits at the top of San Antonio's business pyramid: Charles Butt (H-E-B), Tom Frost V (whose family history is essentially that of Frost Bank), and Bartell Zachry (Zachry Construction). And their involvement with SAISD goes way back.

Butt, Zachry and Frost's father, Tom Frost Jr. — among San Antonio's longest-standing philanthropists — have long pushed for reform of the inner-city district, which has been hemorrhaging students for decades.

But they lost this one. The trustees, a majority of whom are not fans of Durón, refused to go along with an extension.

Next month, Durón — a lightning rod because of SAISD's school closure plan and his handling of it — undergoes a performance review by the seven-member board that could be bruising, though news this week of the district's TAKS gains might help his case.

The uncertainty is spawning questions about whether the business leaders, whoare strong supporters of Durón, will make the big campaign contributions for SAISD's anticipated bond election in November — money that would come in awfully handy. Or whether they'll bankroll candidates to run against Durón's critics in 2011.

In a written statement, Butt didn't say whether he'd fully back a bond effort. But neither did he mince words about the superintendent's contract.

“It is my personal opinion that SAISD would have a difficult time getting a bond passed unless Dr. Durón's contract was extended so that the voters would know that there is going to be continuity of leadership throughout the period of the bond expenditures and beyond,” he said.

Trustee Carlos Villarreal, a critic of Durón, was one of the trustees irked at what they saw as meddling.

“With all due respect, at some point we're going to have to make that statement — that the business community does not run the San Antonio Independent School District.”

Trustee Ed Garza, who may be Durón's only strong ally on the board, takes the opposite view, saying the district can't grow or improve without partnering with business leaders such as the triumvirate — who own a lot of property in SAISD and whose work forces include many products of its schools.

In a meeting with Butt, Garza said he urged the billionaire to seek Castro's help in the extension push, which would have essentially represented a vote of confidence. Butt and Zachry secured it during a meeting in the mayor's office, though a Castro spokesman said he didn't advocate specific contract terms.

Garza, a former mayor, reasoned that the trustees — including six Latinos — might respond well to “the young Hispanic man that they supported for mayor.”

Here's a good place to state the obvious: We're talking about three wealthy, Anglo businessmen, and SAISD is a poor, majority-minority district. The three have long been supportive of the district but could alienate employees and parents if they come across as too heavy-handed, maybe even paternalistic.

Here's a sampling of their history in the district:

In 2000, they and their Citizens for Quality Education political action committee gave a combined $157,000 to four candidates, all of whom toppled incumbents at a time when the district's turmoil was worse than usual.

Six years later, the board found a superintendent candidate with sterling credentials — and a salary demand beyond its means. The businessmen offered to cover the difference. One of the two trustees from that period who described the episode to me said the gap was as much as $50,000 per year. Only when questions about divided loyalties surfaced was the plan scuttled.

Butt, however, said he didn't “recall any discussion regarding a salary supplementation for anyone.”

That was before the board turned its attention to Durón.

The trio also has writtena lot of checks for bond campaigns. But will they later this year?

Greg Jefferson is the politics and government editor of the Express-News. He can be reached at gjefferson@express-news.net.